Hills, parks turn haven for addicts

Ambika Sharma

Solan, December 1

Isolated hilltops, parks and deserted railway tracks are emerging as hotspots of drug abusers in Solan and its precincts.

Several educational and professional institutes are located in the periphery of Solan as it has become an educational hub housing a large number of youth.

Places like Jawahar Park, Children’s Park, etc, which are deserted in the evening, have become the hotspots of drug consumers. It has also been observed that the youth use cars and bikes parked at isolated places to consume drugs.

“Cases of young boys and girls falling prey to drug abuse surface from time to time. It has also been observed that students staying as paying guest, without any parental control, often are victims of drug abuse,” says Virender Sharma, SP, Solan. He adds that police teams have been specially deputed to monitor such isolated places like parks and railway tracks so that drug abusers can be spotted.

A shortage of staff, however, acts as a handicap in checking drug abuse among the youth. The absence of rehabilitation centres in Solan city is being felt as the number of drug abusers appear to be rising.

A drug de-addiction and treatment centre operating at the MMU Medical College and Hospital, Sultanpur, is helping drug abusers in leaving the bad habit. Drug abusers from Solan as well as its periphery visit the centre on a regular basis.

College principal Dr RC Sharma says that youths in the 18 to 25 age group are falling prey to heroin addiction. It has been observed that heroin laced with other intoxicants is being consumed by the drug abusers and this is becoming an additional challenge for the doctors.

“We ensure that a patient spends at least 10 to 14 days at the centre where he is detoxified. This is followed by counselling sessions and psychotherapy for the patient. The family too is involved in counselling. This is done to ensure that the patient does not relapse back to drug abuse after leaving the centre though some hardcore drug abusers do exhibit this trend,” adds Dr Sharma.

He, however, is alarmed at the rising number of heroin consumers in the area.

• 836.98 gm Heroin seized in 2022
• 69 Cases registered
• 134 (130 males, 4 females) arrested
• 116 Accused nabbed in state
• Drug de-addiction centre, operational since 2019, receives 8 to 9 patients every month

Police teams deputed

Cases of young boys and girls falling prey to drugs surface from time to time. It has been observed that students staying as paying guest often are victims of drug abuse. Virender Sharma, SP, Solan